Turpin on what gets her creative juices flowing: “My students will tell you that I can get overly excited during group meetings—brainstorming, daydreaming, and hypothesizing—feeding off the energy that they bring to the room. I love fieldwork, especially in beautiful places. When I go to the field for six weeks, I am able to focus on one thing without interruption. We work in teams helping each other. The camaraderie, beauty, and singleness of mission lead to reflection and creative ideas.”

What her colleagues say: “Barbara’s creative scientific and technological advances impact even further than air pollution, climate, and human health by contributing to our understanding of how humans are changing the natural cycles of nutrients and thus ecosystems’ functioning.”—Maria Kanakidou, University of Crete